It's difficult to sort out the facts from the rhetoric in the fiery dispute between board members who oversee the Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority (CMHA). The agency manages publicly subsidized housing in Hamilton County. Each year, it serves people living in roughly 5,200 units in publicly owned housing as well as another 10,600 families that use the federal Housing Choice Voucher Program. But just before CMHA Board Member John Rosenberg resigned from the agency June 21, he sent a three-page letter to City Manager Milton Dohoney Jr. describing his fellow board members as "dysfunctional."

Lawsuit, drama follow accusations of racism at CMHA

The rush of publicity around Cincinnati's public housing agency began when three Cincinnati Metropolitan Housing Authority clients filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in August, alleging a list of wrongs, injustices and racially biased activity perpetuated by the agency. Soon after, the case took on the trappings of pop-media hype when CMHA Board Chairman Arnold Barnett lashed back at the clients' attorney, Robert Newman.

The Cash for Clunkers program ended at 8 p.m. Aug. 24. It is survived by thousands of appreciative middle-class auto buyers, several hundred thousand tons of smashed SUVs and dozens of stimulus programs that no one has heard of.